Watching the news these days is usually a
depressing experience, as Donald Trump continues to insult America’s friends
and embrace its enemies, the UK continues to lurch like a lame lemming towards the
fecal morass of Brexit, and human rights are increasingly under threat everywhere
from Venezuela to Vladivostok – via Hong Kong.
However, the last week or two has been unusual in that there have
actually been a few items of good news for a change.
For one, Liu Xia was finally released from
house arrest in China and allowed to leave the country.
Meanwhile in Thailand the 12 young lads and
their football coach trapped in a flooded cave complex were all safely
rescued. What made this case
particularly heartwarming was that experts came from all over the world to contribute
to the complex but finally successful operation to save the boys. In a world full of division and strife, it is
refreshing to see people cooperating across national borders to help others –
that’s the way the world should work.
And until the semi-final, the unexpectedly
successful run of England’s football team in the World Cup was – if you’re
English – another cause for celebration.
Then they had the misfortune to come up against not just the mighty Croatian
team but the Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir, who provided some of the worst
refereeing I’ve ever witnessed in a major tournament. In the early stages of the game, Croatian
players went on an orgy of pushing, shoving, tripping, obstruction, elbowing
and shirt-grabbing, much of it directed at England captain Harry Kane, and all
of it ignored by the ref. If he had
stamped his authority on the game at this stage, who knows how much more Kane
could have achieved with more room to move, rather than being hemmed in by a
string of fouls?
When Cakir did eventually get around to
booking a Croatian player, the commentator was convinced that he’d picked the
wrong one (though the correct one picked up a yellow card later). And if the ref’s objective was to keep the
game flowing by ignoring minor transgressions, then why did he stop play for
one foul on an England player when England still had possession and were
charging forward, instead of applying the advantage rule?
But perhaps Cakir’s worst error was to give
Croatia a goal kick when video coverage clearly showed that England should have
been awarded a corner. A quick look at
the VAR would have made this obvious, yet Cakir was oblivious – as he generally
was throughout the game – to all pleas, entreaties and complaints. A truly shoddy performance which has rightly
attracted heavy criticism (and accusations of bias) online.
None of which is to say that England would
necessarily have won under a better official – it’s too easy to blame the
referee for a loss. England certainly
made mistakes, and when not testing the limits of the rulebook the Croatian
team – especially Luka Modric – played some magnificent football. Yet England’s young team, under the superb
management of Gareth Southgate, went far further in this tournament than anyone
expected, playing intelligent football with passion, commitment to the very
last minute of the game, and strong team spirit without a trace of a superstar
ego. They are still maturing, and I look
forward to seeing them do better in future tournaments – under a different
referee.
